And United's direct style of play caused problems throughout a pulsating 90 minutes.

Hibs were under pressure from an early corner, with Jim O'Brien slashing a shot wide from 16 yards.

The Easter Road side also had a good chance inside the first few minutes but Filipe Morais made a mess of a header from 10 yards, following a great delivery from Rankin.

Hunt was guilty of a close range miss as the Hibs defence were caught out by a monster long throw-in from Danny Grainger and Willo Flood also squandered a headed chance inside the six yard box.

A quick break from Hibs saw Colin Nish steal in behind the home defence and the sprawling Zaluska did well to block as Shiels ran on to the new striker's back-heel.

The ball broke across the gaping goal to Fletcher but the forward's touch was clumsy and United had to time to crowd him out.

The visitors were punished for Fletcher's profligacy when Craig Levein's team dashed up the park to set up the opening goal.

Hunt set up O'Brien for a powerful angled shot that was beaten away by Yves Ma-Kalambay and Flood had his heels clipped by Guillaume Beuzelin as he got his head to the rebound.

Contact looked minimal and accidental but a penalty was given and Hunt's tame effort from the spot found the net despite Ma-Kalambay getting a hand to it.

A neat interchange of first time passes opened up the United defence but Shiels got himself in a tangle with a step-over and Zaluska smothered the danger.

Having struggled for much of the first 45 minutes, Hibs found themselves level just 20 seconds after the restart when Zaluska allowed a speculative shot from Rankin to bounce over his outstretched arms.

Grainger brushed the roof of the net with a swerving free kick before United introduced Mark de Vries from the bench.

The substitute striker added even more height to the home ranks and did well to nod down for Hunt, who grazed the crossbar with his close range twisting header.

Fletcher had endured a frustrating game, not seeing much of the ball and unsure of his touch when it did come his way, but the Hibs man produced a great bit of skill to hit the base of the post with an overhead kick from 20 yards.

Ma-Kalambay did well to tip over a strong de Vries header and the visiting keeper got down smartly to gather another header from Hunt as United continued their aerial assault.

The Belgian U21 international then pushed away a Conway drive before Hibs finished strongly.

Zaluska made a fine reaction save to keep out a prod from Nish and Shiels was guilty of a shocking miss when he skewed wide with the goal at his mercy.